Hard Years Can Make Good Men

Five Truths for the Coming Year

As you reflect on 2024, maybe it was a year of successes and happy memories for you. Or maybe it was a year of struggle and difficulty. Most likely, it was some mix of the two.

To help you process whatever happened last year in your career, your family, or your personal life—and anticipate what may happen in 2025—here are some words of wisdom from Viktor Frankl, the renowned psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who is famous for his profound insights into finding meaning through adversity.

1. "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."

This quote reflects Frankl’s core belief that while we cannot always control our external circumstances, we have the power to choose how we respond to them. Even in the most oppressive conditions, we can choose our attitude and mindset.

2. "Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how.'"

This is one of Frankl’s most famous quotes. It underscores the idea that having a sense of purpose or meaning in life—something to live for—gives people the strength to endure even the most excruciating suffering.

3. "Suffering is an irreplaceable and essential part of life. It is the ultimate challenge that we face, and through it, we can achieve meaning and personal growth."

Frankl believed that suffering, while painful, is an unavoidable aspect of life that can lead to deep personal growth. He viewed it not as something to avoid but as a means of progress.

4. "What is to give light must endure burning."

Here, Frankl beautifully captures the paradox that to bring light into the world, one must often endure great hardship. The imagery of burning implies both intense suffering and brilliant transformation.

5. "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Let us be that kind of people: People who retain our humanity no matter our circumstances. This is no small task, but it usually happens in small moments, day after day, often with the people we love most.

Perhaps this is the crux of my “resolutions” for the coming year: To retain my humanity and offer kindness, forbearance, and decency to others no matter my joy or my suffering.

All quotes are from Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, which is worth reading again and again. Find it here: